Rosary for the Feast of
Our Lady of Exile
Thursday, January 21, is the feast of Our Lady of Exile. Who is Our Lady of Exile? She is the Blessed Virgin Mary under a title recalling when she, St. Joseph and the infant Christ-child had to flee Bethlehem for exile in Egypt. In fear of losing his kingship to the child “who had been born king of the Jews” (Matthew 2:2), Herod had begun a government program of killing all boys under the age of two. In this story and in Mary’s title Lady of Exile, we are called to see Mary, Joseph, and the infant Jesus in all those who must flee their home for safety’s sake. In the exiled Holy Family, we are called to see all those who must live in a country other than their own, and who may there live in fear and on the margins. As such, under her title Our Lady of Exile, she is the patron of those who forced to leave their homeland to take refuge or to seek work abroad, of all those, homesick for her homeland and hoping to find understanding and sympathy in the adoptive land.

At 5.00pm (via Zoom), St. Paul's Marian Society (Bakersfield) is hosting a recitation of the rosary.  As with all Society events everyone is invited. If you are not familiar with the rosary, it is an old spiritual practice of prayers and reflection on key biblical events; the purpose of which is to quiet the mind and open our hearts to the mysteries revealed in those events. Consider joining in this coming Thursday. The Zoom invitation is here. The passcode is “exile”.